Brent Key put on the videotape Sunday during the team’s weekly meeting. Not tape of Georgia Tech beating Virginia or Clemson beating Notre Dame – or any football tape for that matter.
Key instead chose a video clip of the late NBA legend Kobe Bryant.
“Bryant talked a lot about being obsessed and being obsessed with winning and being obsessed with the process and being obsessed with sticking to the standard that he has for himself,” Key explained. “That’s the next step we have to take. We have to have the obsessive mentality to prepare to win. The obsessive desire that Saturdays you come to play to win. That’s taking it a next step.
“I’m talking about obsessed where you’re going to do everything you can to be the best version of yourself every single play, every single day, every game, every single week.”
Key’s team has been pretty close to the best version of itself two weeks running in back-to-back triumphs over North Carolina and Virginia, respectively. Those wins have kept the Yellow Jackets (5-4, 4-2 ACC) in the race for the conference championship game and very much alive to make a bowl game for the first time since 2018.
This week Tech is faced with the challenge of again being heavy road underdogs against a team that has dominated Tech for the better part of a decade. When the Jackets take the field at noon Saturday at Memorial Stadium against the Tigers, they’ll need to play at a high level – maybe even higher than they have played through nine games this season – to come out with a third consecutive win.
Key has to toe the line this week of getting his unit to understand they must raise their performance without striving to do too much.
“I’ve never asked a coach or a player, and I never will ask a coach or a player, to play over their head or play bigger than they can play, to be better than they have. All I ask is for those guys to be the best versions of themselves, to be the best player that they can possibly be, to play at the highest of their God-given ability,” Key said. “Can you be a better version of yourself each week? Yes. That’s raising that ceiling. But to play out of your mind and play over your head, I don’t believe in that. I believe collectively we gotta play our best football together week-in and week-out.”
Clemson entered the season expected to challenge for the ACC championship. But the Tigers stumbled out of the starting blocks in a 28-6 loss to Duke and haven’t been consistently right since.
An overtime loss to Florida State, a double-overtime loss to Miami and a seven-point loss to North Carolina State left Clemson at 4-4 going into November. Coach Dabo Swinney’s team (5-4, 2-4 ACC) showed signs of life Saturday when it knocked off Notre Dame 31-23 at home.
Despite the results on the scoreboard, Clemson still has one of the league’s better pass defenses and rush defenses. It ranks sixth nationally in total defense, at 273.8 yards allowed per game.
On offense, running backs Will Shipley and Phil Mafah make the Tigers go, having combined for 1,140 yards on the ground. Quarterback Cade Klubnik has thrown for 2,056 yards and 14 touchdowns for a team uncharacteristically fighting for bowl eligibility this month instead of a championship.
“You talk about a standard, the standard that they’ve set in this conference and the standard that they’ve set nationally? Our team’s gonna be really excited to go up there,” Key said. “We’re gonna be excited to play our best game and excited to go up there and play for 60 minutes and four quarters.”
Tech leads the all-time series with Clemson 50-35-2, but has lost eight in a row, dating to a 2014 win. The Jackets haven’t won at Memorial Stadium since 2008, a run of seven consecutive defeats.
“What would it mean to beat ‘em? They’re the standard of the conference. What they’ve done the last 12 years, what (Swinney’s) been able to accomplish there, it’s truly remarkable. He’s done an unbelievable job,” Key said. “Would it be big? Yeah it’d be big. Dadgum right it’d be big. But we’re not gonna make it more than it is because that’s when the anxiety and the emotional reactions start to kick in. When the game’s over, I’ll let these guys, just like we have every week, choose how to let their emotions go.”
